82 Percent in Poll Oppose The Congressional Raise

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Few people know how much United States senators and representatives are paid each year, but that does not stop the majority of the public from opposing the proposed Congressional pay increase, a new Gallup Poll has found.

Over all, 82 percent of the 1,001 adults interviewed by the Gallup Organization said they opposed the increase to $135,000 a year from $89,500 for members of Congress. Only 15 percent were in favor of the raise, although the poll question said that in exchange, members of Congress would have to stop accepting speaking fees from special interest groups.

Gallup put the margin of sampling error for the telephone poll, conducted from Jan. 24 to Jan. 26, at plus or minus four percentage points.

Asked if they knew how much Congress members were paid, 56 percent of the respondents were unable to name a figure. Twelve percent said $75,000 or less, while 20 percent said from $76,000 to $90,000, and 12 percent said over $90,000.

But how much the public knew did not alter the overwhelming opposition to an increase. Whether respondents named a salary figure that was too high, about right, or too low, or named no figure at all, more than three-quarters of the people in each group opposed increasing the pay.

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The size of the proposed raise does not seem to be the major reason for public opposition. Citing ''profoundly negative'' public views of any Congressional raise, James Shriver of the Gallup Organization said: ''If we had asked about a 30 percent pay increase instead of 50 percent, I suspect we would have gotten much the same response. People just don't think members of Congress need more money.''

Indeed, a New York Times/CBS News Poll taken in January 1987 found similar opposition to an even smaller pay increase proposed at that time. When asked about Ronald Reagan's proposal to raise salaries for Congress members, Cabinet members and some Federal judges by 11 to 14 percent, only 13 percent of the public said those increases should be approved. Eighty-two percent said they should not.

Analysts at the Gallup Organization speculated that opposition to raises might reflect in part the relatively low public esteem in which Congress is held as documented in many polls over the years.

A version of this article appears in print on February 6, 1989, on Page A00012 of the National edition with the headline: 82 Percent in Poll Oppose The Congressional Raise. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe